Unlocking Entrepreneurial Success: An Interview with Nick “Bucky” Buchanan, the Mastermind Behind Blockperfect
I had the pleasure of interviewing Nick Buchanan, or Bucky as he’s otherwise known. He’s a 30-year technology veteran and currently leading Blockperfect, a venture studio dedicated to nurturing early-stage Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), AI, and Web3 startups. Nicholas leverages his extensive experience in entrepreneurialism, traditional and decentralized finance, and early-growth startups to provide operational guidance, optimize developer velocity, and help new sales teams reach operational maturity — quickly.
Nick created Blockperfect to serve entrepreneurs who didn’t fit the typical VC model; there, he provides Venture Catalyst, a program designed to ease the friction of taking an idea from contemplation to a well-managed cash-flowing business. In addition to Venture Catalyst, for the more mature companies, Blockperfect also oversees the development and management of engineering, operations, sales, and revenue operations, and staffing and provides access to hardware and software supply and distribution chains. That’s a lot of resources under one roof and a lot of risk off the table.
Prior to Blockperfect, Nick had success at several startups, three of which exited at valuations over $100M, as well as success at two big 5 consulting firms. As the Portfolio Product Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers he oversaw the reorganization of the security services division, where he implemented scaled agile across four product offerings serving member firms in 152 countries, and as Sr. Managing Consultant for IBM Global Services, where he guided Global-2000 accounts on SEC electronic records compliance, leading to two publications for IBM Redbooks. As Chief Technology Officer at Armor Scientific, he successfully raised $2.5 million in financing and debuted his first hardware product, Air Armor, a hardware authenticator featured by CRN and winner of multiple awards at RSA 2019, further cementing his reputation for having the Midas touch.
Nicholas comes here today to talk about how Blockperfect, and how its programs help founders to turn their marketable ideas into revenue-generating companies.
What motivated you to launch your startup?
What inspired me to start Blockperfect was recognizing a gap in the early entrepreneurial ecosystem. Coming from a software engineering background, I worked at a lot of startups and I realized that most tech startups focus on getting unrealistic amounts of funding, even before making a single dime. These companies go nowhere, and I wanted to change that paradigm. Not every business should aim to be the next billion-dollar unicorn. In some cases your deferring wealth unintentionally. I saw many small to medium-scale entrepreneurs with fantastic ideas but lacked the resources and guidance to develop those into profitable, and possibly acquirable businesses. The motivation was to provide a realistic, viable path for working individuals to become entrepreneurs. So Blockperfect was founded to these entrepreneurs the resources and guidance to build sustainable revenue-first companies they can grow as large as they choose. Whatever their goal, our goal is to create economic mobility for our founders.
What is it that excites you about what you’re building?
What’s most exciting about Blockperfect is the access to entrepreneurship we offer. Our model doesn’t prioritize only those ideas that can secure venture capital, it prioritizes profitable, sustainable businesses. That means more opportunities for more people. I love seeing people from all walks of life bring their ideas to the table, and it’s extremely rewarding to see them build their dreams. Also, our programs’ flexibility to allow people to start part-time and then transition into a full-time business is empowering. People today feel stuck in a loop, and Blockperfect provides an avenue to break the cycle and create something more enduring and fitting to their lifestyle.
What has been your biggest challenge when growing your startup?
Our biggest challenge so far has been managing growth while also staying true to our mission. As we’ve grown, we’ve attracted a wider range of businesses. Some ideas can potentially become high-growth, venture-scale companies, but others simply aren’t viable. So we have to remind ourselves of our commitment to the “revenue first” principle, and if the company has no chance of earning an income over the bare minimum cost structure we set up, then we don’t let them buy. We can’t allow ourselves to be seduced by the prospect of revenue at the expense of our core mission to support founders.
What are your future plans for your startup?
We’re planning to expand our services and in terms of the business sectors we support. We’ve seen interest from various businesses, and some we didn’t expect, but we believe our model has a broader application than originally envisioned, so we’re letting the market decide. We also want to deepen our founder support system by providing even more comprehensive programs and group work for covering various business aspects — like how to get preferred pricing, running sales, marketing, legal, HR, etc. Our goal is for Blockperfect to become the go-to platform for working individuals to gain economic mobility by starting a business. We can achieve that goal by returning more value back to the founders.
If you had to share, “words of wisdom,” with a Founder who’s about to start their own startup, what would they be?
I’d say, remember that entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint. Play the infinite game by focusing on building a sustainable, profitable business rather than chasing after venture capital. Those investors have a place, but few businesses will get funding unless their idea is “on-trend” with the prevailing VC fund thesis. Listen to your customers, they’re your best source of feedback and new ideas. Be adaptable, the market will always change, and you need to be able to pivot when necessary. But most importantly, stay true to your vision. It’s easy to get swayed by trends and fads, but a business built on a strong, authentic vision has the best chance of long-term success.
You can learn more about Blockperfect and Venture Catalyst on their website at https://www.blockperfect.io, or you can connect with them on social media.
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/NBuchananBP
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCocCc9mt22KlkpYGeYzst0g
This was very insightful. Thank you so much for joining us!
